Tag Archives: metric

another seeming classic, complete with their collage-pastiche artwork aesthetic.

Arts & Crafts baroque rock legends Broken Social Scene unveiled a new single from their upcoming album Forgiveness Rock Record available here. It’s an epic, seven-minute montage of their greatest musical talents, and it foreshadows an even more epic album.

The band, a musical collective of some 19-members, has ties to Eastern Canadian bands such as Metric, Feist, Stars and Do Make Say Think to name a few. Their collaborative spirit embiggens every noble man and woman.

The full studio album will be released on May 4, which has been greatly awaited since their last, self-titled work from 2005.

Check out this video for “7/4 Shoreline,” a catchy tune from their third eponymous work.

The winner of the $20,000 prize for best Canadian album has gone to Fucked Up for their 2008 work TheChemistry of Modern Life. The highly controversial group, originally from Toronto, plays high-energy punk rock with virtosity and lyrical intellect.

However, you’ve got to admit that punk music has always had a bit of a select audience. Not everyone enjoys the rampant, almost machine-like speed of their delivery — much less appreciate its oft political or social messages. Punk music, at its best, comes from the downtrodden, the least socioeconomically empowered. So what does this say about Canadian music lovers when a punk band has won such a prestigious, popularizing award?

Personally, I’m a fan of anything punk. In fourth grade, I listened to Green Day‘s Dookie nearly every day, and have always loved the intellectual, leftist teachings of Bad Religion.

In many ways, this year’s Pemberton festival turned all of us concert-goers into experimental subjects for how a festival should be organized. During the past week, I’ve read several reviews in many of the local papers, but none of which captured the entire sentiment of the three-day gongshow than the headline for the 24hrs magazine which read: “traffic, dust, fun,” succinctly describing the order of the weekend’s most memorable elements.

After waiting in line for about 14 hours in a hot, inland dustbowl, I finally caught the Metric show on Friday afternoon. Emily Haines was decked out in a shimmery, almost space-age sliver minidress that reminded me of a futuristic Kubrickian vision. Later on that evening I enjoyed Wolfmother’s metallic rampage as the band ravaged Zeppelin’s hits and left the crowd begging for more distorted violence. Come nightfall, the Mount Currie stage ushered in Nine Inch Nails, the day’s headliners, and the shit hit the fan. I was about 40 feet away from the mosh pit but still got tossed about and burned by rogue cigarettes as the show peaked at “Closer.”

epitome shot

On Saturday morning we had a lovely omelette breakfast at the campsite and went back to see Black Mountain, The Tragically Hip and of course, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. During the show, Gordon Downie during entreated the crowd to his iconic shifty-eyed, but strangely friendly smiles while pretending to be an ape who didn’t comprehend the electronic capacities of his own microphone. Tom Petty at twilight was smooth and enchanting as the crowd metamorphosed into middle-aged rock veterans who didn’t have the heart to block your view of the stage. The Flaming Lips showed up with these big fucking balloon things full of confetti that complimented the band’s eccentric lyrical component. To add to the confusion, they had a chorus of Teletubbies on the left side dancing and singing, a bizarre combination of weird music and even more strange scenery to make a fantastic show. The verdict? Black Mountain offered far more energy live and attracted an exodus of smelly but chill hippies and modern bohemians. Man I just love that stuff way too much.

The downside of this all is that I had to leave and miss the entire last day due to complications and major pooning out by some of my companions. I don’t have anything else left to say except that getting to and from the show was a fucking nightmare, but the music was fabulous and a remedy for it all. If Pemberton hopes to be an annual event it better shape up its over-idealistic view of checking 10,000 people’s personal bags to see if they snuck in booze after they’ve been waiting around for hours. You just can’t treat people like that.